Success. It Always Comes Back to... Work!

A new year has started... again.  Most of us look back at the past year and think of the things we wish we would have done and are amazed at how fast time has past.  Meanwhile we have become absorbed in everyday life and accomplished little or nothing that we wish for.  I do this each year.  Perhaps it is not normal and I am the only one that feels this way, but I think not.  I tend to look back and think how different things would be if I had just been on the treadmill 20 minutes each day, followed that healthy diet, practiced my musical instrument an extra 15 minutes daily, etc.  I recognize, and take responsibility for, the place I find myself in life and realize it has mostly been because of decisions that I have made.  On occasion, however, I fall into the familiar old thought pattern that says "why have better things not come my way?" or "why didn't I get that kind of a break/promotion/financial windfall/etc.".

As much as I struggle within myself to believe that this is not true, I must say that often I think even these things are a result of my actions, or should I say inaction.  Whether you believe in God, karma, mystic energy, a benevolent all-knowing intelligence, or your own power, many of us often wonder why fortunate situations and circumstances seem to come to others but not to us. Why is it that so many of us say to ourselves "why do good things happen for others but not for me?".  We think back on things we enjoyed doing, probably things we have talent for, and wonder why we didn't get the breaks that came to someone else.  Why do we spend our lives working at a job that we dislike or feel has no meaning, going through the motions of a meaningless existence.

I don't have the answers to so many of the things that happen to us all.  I do believe in God and that He has a purpose for each and every one of us, and will use us when we allow Him to.  I am beginning to think more often these days that the limiting factor in life is ourselves.  I have spent most of my life looking for a break, an opportunity, someone to come up and tell me how great they think I am, how much potential I have and what a great blessing I will be to the world with this new career/business/ministry/bank account that they are giving me.  The answer in my life, and I would guess many others, is work and preparation.  There are so many things that I have talent for, but without work, study and preparation I am not ready for success in these areas.  A great example is individuals that win the lottery and in a few short years find themselves divorced, isolated from friends and family and broke.  The work we do prepares us for the success God will bring our way when we are ready for it.  God has given me the talents, but He leaves it up to me to develop and use them.

How Fair is "Fairness"?

Why is it that those who claim to be the largest proponents of freedom and personal choice (i.e. liberals) oppose any freedoms that are not granted by the state? Last time I checked we have a country founded on the belief that our rights and freedoms are granted by God, not the Federal Government. Our right to freely and openly oppose our government or express our dissenting opinion is what makes America different, and may I say, better than any other country. In their quest for a liberal Utopia the political left in this country is on a crusade to silence opposition. One of the most obvious examples is their efforts to silence "hate speech". While I don't endorse any speech that is born out of hatred and meant to demean and devalue those of another race or religion, in America we have a right to express dissent and opposition to any person, organization or government institution.

The left in this country continually defends the right of individuals to use any type of crude , obscene or sexually explicit language in the public arena. This is touted as 'freedom of speech'. I would argue that all citizens have the right to any type of language in private, but are required by the laws of decency to eliminate this from public use. The Constitution provides, through the Bill of Rights, free speech in the form of economic, political and religious ideology, basically the type of speech that is most valuable and on the top of the list for liberals to ban. We may very soon be experiencing the reinstatement of the 'Fairness Doctrine' that will take us a long way towards government control of any dissenting point of view via radio. Liberals that spout off about freedom of choice and free speech are working hard to silence talk radio, the only media dominated by conservative political and religious thought. They cannot compete in a free market on the basis of their liberal agenda, and so the only course of action for them is to silence freedom's number one outlet.

Lately this has become an all-out war on Rush Limbaugh. Regardless of what you think about Rush, Sean Hannity, or Glenn Beck, if they are allowed to succeed in silencing conservative political speech on the radio, how long before they move to silence the internet news and bloggers? Or how about the churches that speak out on issues of morality? How long before any anti-abortion speech or the teaching that homosexuality is sin is condemned? Will the left continue to tolerate the homeschooling crowd that is bypassing their state indoctrination program? How soon will we find any speech opposing the liberal, socialist agenda outlawed as 'hate speech'? I am convinced that day is coming, and possibly much sooner than most of us think. Will entertainment addicted America ever wake up? I pray to God that we do.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I don't know about you, but I was in a real funk on Nov. 5th. This election was not the first time that I have been disappointed in the results (ie: Clinton's 2 terms), but for some reason I was effected to a much greater degree. I was not a strong believer in John McCain as the right man for the job. In fact I was unsure of my vote until he selected Sarah Palin as a running mate. Somehow though, I knew there was more riding on this election than any previous in my lifetime. Perhaps part of my reaction was due to the obvious negligence of the mainstream media in letting the American people know just exactly who Barak Hussein Obama is.

Let me back up just a bit and tell you something you may find extremely weird, troublesome, nutty, etc (pick your own word). I was very anxious for this election. I found myself counting the days when we were still weeks away from the voting. I voted early here in Texas and was really looking forward to spending the election day evening with friends and watching the returns come in. Then a strange thing happened. As I finished work for the day (which was early on Tuesday) I started to feel a heaviness in my heart about the evening. As I walked up to the front door of my home, I noticed that the American flag we had out had somehow become completely wrapped around itself and the pole. Ordinarily I would probably of thought nothing about it, except that it had never happened before. But on this day I heard a voice (not audibly) say that for the next four years the flag (which I somehow knew was representative of our freedom) would be bound up and not allowed to fly freely.

If you knew me, you would know that this was a pretty weird thing for me to experience. As I thought about it I felt strongly that many of our rights (free speech, right to bear arms, etc.) would be challenged and perhaps even restricted in the years to come. I tried to shake this off and told myself that it was silly, since the polls had not even closed yet and surely the McCain-Palin ticket would win. I just couldn't shake the feeling of dread and/or doom that I felt the rest of the night. By around 9:00 CST I knew it was over. Depression set in!

Having some time to think about this and process it some (my brain works on stuff SLOWLY) I have arrived at what I think is the Lord's will in all of this. We are told in the Bible that God is Omnipotent and His purposes will be accomplished. So where does that put us as Christians that may feel a man has been elected that supports some agendas we know go against God's will, and others that are at the very least contrary to the Constitution? We must rest and be at peace with God's sovereignty and know that He will work things for our ultimate good.

We must also be vigilant and watch closely for any party or politician that may go against the principles of the Constitution and our founding fathers. If and when these issues arise we must not be silent, as the German people were in the 1930's, but we must protest and petition to be heard. Beyond this we must also, and more importantly, pray for our leaders... even those we don't like. We must pray that God's will is done and pray that He would give insight and wisdom to those governing our country. I am not proud of the fact that I did not do this when Mr. Clinton was in office because I so strongly opposed the man and his lack of integrity, honesty and morals... but let us learn our lesson and do our part this time around. We must be a light and a blessing to all and truly learn to selflessly pursue God's will over our own social or political agenda.